Wow, I think we might have a winner here. The folks at Myka have created a hybrid HD media player / HTPC that’s based on Ubuntu. The Myka ION provides a custom media dashboard that one boots straight into on top of a fully configured and optimized PC that supports Hulu, Boxee, XBMC, and other popular services. The Myka ION as the name suggest leverages the NVIDIA ION (9400M) graphic chipset with a power sipping Intel Atom N330 processor. In other words, it can handle full 1080p HD video with ease.

Obviously, the Myka ION HD Player is intend for people who aren’t interested in building their own HTPC, but would rather buy a straight-forward, small form factor, HD media player to connect to their HDTV that “just works”. However, being that it’s based on Ubuntu, it will appeal to Linux enthusiasts as well who may choose to extend the device even further by installing additional FREE applications and making it perform other duties on top of its standard feature-set.

Myka ION lets you browse to any Web site and play video content directly onto your TV — bypassing your PC entirely. No messing with conversion software, no tinkering with anything. Plug it in and it starts working right away.

“Technology has finally caught up with what consumers want out of Internet video services,” said Myka President Dan Lovy. “They want to be freed from their computers and watch the growing variety of Web video content on their large-screen, high-definition living room TVs. And they want to do it without a lot of hassle and without video quality suffering.

“We’ve heard them loud and clear and we’re proud to present the Myka ION, the first product to take advantage of the latest processor technology and finally give Web video consumers what they want.”

The Intel and NVIDIA processors do all the heavy lifting, such as video encoding/decoding during playback, resulting in seamless, high-quality content beamed directly to your TV. The Myka ION is actually a mini-PC in itself.

With the Myka ION, you don’t need to do any work to figure out how to get a downloaded video to actually play on your TV. With a wide range of file formats supported, you don’t need to think about it at all. Just plug it in and enjoy.

To see videos of Myka in action, to order a box or if you want to join Myka’s open-source developer community, go to myka.tv. Also, you can follow Myka on Twitter at twitter.com/mykatv or on Myka President Dan Lovy’s blog, therisingtides.blogspot.com
You can reach Myka at info@myka.tv or call 781-728-3036.

About Myka
Myka develops a state-of-the-art video player that downloads files from the Internet onto its hard drive to be played back directly, in high definition, on your television. It contains built-in downloading and streaming video capabilities. Myka also supports an open-source developer community and is pursuing partnerships with high-quality video content providers.